Jimmy Greaves - British Footballer

As a kid, aged six, I remember we moved to Stoke Newington in North London for two years from 1967 to 1969. At school, I began to play football in the playground because all the other boys did. I rapidly learnt the rules and started to watch English league football on television because all the other kids in my school did. It was a wonderful and euphoric world that was going on around me all of the time and I had not been aware of it until this circumstance came about in the new school’s playground.

Suddenly, I was buying picture cards of football stars and collecting sets of various brands, all of which, had football players of all the top league teams. One of the first player’s names I heard, was Jimmy Greaves. He played for Tottenham Hotspurs (Spurs) at the time. He was one of the many great names from a golden area of Retro Brit 1960s. One of my favourite decades because I saw it through the eyes of a naive infant.

Jimmy Greaves was the first name I learnt because a school mate named Michael Malender told me of this player. He told me, Jimmy Greaves played for spurs and always scored lots goals. Afterwards all the other great names began to come into my kiddie domain. However, Jimmy Greaves was the first footballer's name I remember learning.